The general principles for making reclosable plastic bags are fairly well known and are exemplified in many prior patents. Various developments in the reclosable plastic bags art, including methods to manufacture and various die assemblies used to manufacture such bags, are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,217,216 to Taheri (describes methods for forming bags), U.S. Pat. No. 4,755,248 to Geiger et al (die assemblies), U.S. Pat. No. 3,338,284 to Ausnit (forming a bag film web using a single extrusion operation), U.S. Pat. Nos. Re. 28,959, 29,208, and 28,969 to Nalto, U.S. Pat. No. Re. 33,674 to Uramoto, and U.S. Pat. No. Re. 26,991 to Luca (interlocking closure profiles), U.S. Pat. No. Re. 34,117 to Martin et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,744,673 to Nakamura, U.S. Pat. No. 4,993,844 to Robinson et al (compartmented double zipper pouch), U.S. Pat. No. 5,102,234 to Levy (multi pocket bag for medical specimen), U.S. Pat. No. 5,353,041 to Fullerton et al, U.S. Pat. No. 6,234,675 to Saad et al (Multi compartment thermo plastic bag) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,024,536 to Hiu (resealable compartmented bags), all of which are incorporated here in their entirety for background information by these references. Although these patents disclose numerous fundamental methods for forming reclosable bags and reclosable closure elements, the present improvements are intended to be suitable with any of the known methods. It may be possible to use many fundamental methods to modify or adapt them, and to incorporate them into the invention disclosed below.
Reclosable plastic bags are used for many purposes, including transporting and storing food products or other materials. Reclosable plastic bags are often preferred over other available bags because of numerous advantages, including that they are easy to store and secure the contents when closed. Reclosable plastic bags are constructed with interlocking properties and are typically made with low-density polyethylene. Typically, consumers purchase various sizes of these bags to fit the need of each use. For example a standard 6×6 2-mil bag is used to pack a single sandwich. A 7×8 quart size is used to fit a sandwich accompanying another foodstuff such as a pickle or cookies. The larger sizes are used to store leftovers or larger objects.